Amanda Marcotte penned this article for Slate - http://www.slate.com/id/2259822/
and it addresses what is evidently becoming increasingly common. More women are simply choosing to forgo having children.
Amanda, 32, (one year my junior), is evidently experiencing precisely what I am... that every other woman I know is pregnant or planning to be. So where are these women who've opted not to kid? They must be out there... because the Pew Research Center study demonstrates that the number of women who aren't going to have children has nearly doubled since 1976. 18% of the female population just isn't going to procreate. That's nearly 1 in 5 women.
To me, this is astonishing. Nearly every woman I know is planning to have children.
What might be more compelling however, is the fact that 38% of Americans denounce childlessness as, "bad for society." WHAT?!? How is this bad for society? With so many people having oodles of children - popping out babies like popcorn, aren't those people compensating for the ones who aren't having any?
What am I missing here?
Even if there weren't countless people having far too many kids, (many of whom can't even afford them), there are people who believe that this trend may bring about the end of Western civilization.
Somehow, I don't think that's gonna happen.
I do believe that more and more women, (including myself), are taking the time to explore the option, rather than diving right in. With study after study indicating that children decrease the quality of marriage, and many mothers admitting that it isn't quite what they thought it would be, I'm not really that surprised that more women are becoming "childless by choice."
I've touched on this before, but I think it's an interesting phenomenon that women who choose to kid and women who choose not to kid are so polarized. Each camp likes to put themselves on pedestals and insist that their decision was better than the other camp's. It's fairly absurd.
In any case, having a child is a HUGE decision, and I admire those who choose one way or the other, doing what is ultimately best for them without letting societal norms and the influence of others impact their decisions.
You want kids? Great! Don't want kids? Fantastic! Me... still fairly undecided, but attracted to the idea..
